"I'm a whole lot better and a whole lot worse than you think I am."-The Choir

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So, wait…Battleworld is not actually the new status quo. It is the lead in to the new status quo.

A status quo that will include, well, whatever the writers want to keep. Which sounds confusing. So, are Peter and Mary Jane married with a kid? Or are they singles? Are they both? And what about the population outside the superheroes?

Or is Battleworld going to dissolve? And the new Marvel Universe will have no memory of it, and all the people who died in the 616 and Ultimate universes will be around?

Will they all have a memory of the Battleworld incident and this is just all part of ongoing continuity? Will only the heroes remember it happened?

And yet, in spite of all these questions…in spite of what a potential mess this looks like…I kind of feel a little more confident…this seems like the goal is to free up the creative times to continue their own visions, rather than a corporate vision of only a couple writers and the editorial staffs.

Though, I will be sad when Earth WOLVERINE (the Earth where everyone is Wolverine) gets destroyed.

I feel like one of the strangest and unfair portrayals of Aunt May throughout the history of Spider-Man was that of the woman scared of Spider-Man.

For a long time, in the world of comics, Aunt May was one of the people who thought Spider-Man was scary and or untrustworthy. This really seemed to last a long time. It would either come up or be ignored until needed for a story point.

It was only after Aunt May made a shocking discovery that she became a fan of Spidey…

Yeah, once she knew Spidey was Peter…all was good. The story where she writes a letter to the editor expressing her change of heart is actually a wonderful story. But May functioned solely to be a plot point for Peter. There were many reasons that she was fearful and could not know…but it always came down to how frail and generally weak she was.

And I just find the portrayal hard to believe. Aunt May raised her nephew for years, she and Ben were perfectly capable and loving stand ins for Peter’s parents. Peter is the man he is because of the influence of Uncle Ben and Aunt May. Yes, it is Uncle Ben’s words at the heart that drives Peter…but it was both Ben and May that taught Peter right and wrong.

And I find it hard to believe such a weak, fearful and frail person could have managed to raise someone who puts their life on the line for strangers. This is one of those areas where Peter Parker/Spider-Man and Clark Kent/Superman meet. They are the product of their environments. They are who they are because of their parents. Not in spite of that parenting.

It would have been nice if May got to be shown as a source of Peter’s strength from day one, instead of an impediment for it. Spider-Man exists in part because of her…the idea that she would be frightened of Spider-Man is silly. I noticed in the Sam Raimi movies, May gets over her concerns about masked vigilantes quickly, becoming the voice of Peter’s conscience. It is May who speaks to the importance of Spider-Man in the second film. May recognizes heroism in those movies and has no fear of it.

So, Warner Brothers is proceeding with it’s plan to make a Justice League movie. I don’t have a lot of faith that it will work out even if made. They are apparently talking to Ben Affleck about directing. Which is a perfectly good choice. Ben has proven he has the skills as a director. But the main problem I see here?

In the movie Captain America, Steve Rogers is sitting with Dr. Erskin having a drink the night before the experiment. They have the following discussion:

Steve Rogers:Can I ask a question?Abraham Erskine: Just one.Steve Rogers: Why me?Abraham Erskine: I suppose that’s the only question that matters. Why someone weak? Because a weak man knows the value of strength, the value of power…

I want to believe this. I want to believe that this dialog from some super-hero movie is some golden nugget of solid Truth.

Then you see stuff like this. Or worse, Jan Brewer. Or the preacher who wanted to lock gays off on their own private island. Or numerous political attempts to ban gay marriage. Or take away GLBT protections at state and federal levels (see Jan Brewer, Minnesota, Washington State and etc). So, while on rare occasion the abused and bullied wield power better…most bullied and abused people are quick to bully and oppress when they find themselves in power. There was a time…long, long ago (but still in some far off places) where Christians were a bullied, abused and oppressed minority. Now 2,000 years later, the Church has a lot of power in the west-especially in America. And how does much of it use it’s power? To trample down others, while crying out about how their own rights are in danger if people have equality. They even make equality a dirty word.

Sorry, Dr. Erskine. The real world sucks more than your comic book world. We lack a Steve Rogers of our own.

(I realize there are plenty of Christians out there who disagree with the measures and support GLBT people-including GLBT Christians)

So, last week I linked to an article by Laura Hudson. It actually started with the post with little commentary other than shock. It generated 251 comments in about three hours. While some were supportive, there were were the angry contingency. Men flocked to tell Hudson that she was making a big deal over nothing and she was slut shaming.

First? Guys, we need to learn what that phrase means. It is not about making a critical commentary about the portrayal of women in comics. The parting shot was the staff of Comics Alliance being snarky, sure. But they were addressing a persistant problem in comics.

The moment in question occurred in the first issue of the Red Hood and the Outsiders. The character of Starfire walks out of the ocean in a tiny swimsuit posing for…um…I do not know who. Okay…I do know…it is for you and I…the readers. But this is not the thing that pushed it over the edge. Starfire asks one of her teammates for sex. He expresses some worry about her rather extensive list of former lovers…noneof whom she can remember.

This is the party that kicked off the frustration. This led to the more direct article from Hudson explaining the problem here. I did not always get the problem. I have several long boxes to prove it. In the 1990s I was a complete Image Geek. I followed pretty much everything they published religiously. Some of it was good, some of it…not so much.

Back in those days, I really did not understand the complaints about women in comics. Comic books were fantasy, for pete’s sake. The men and women alike were idealized. They were cartoonish and therefore not needing to conform to real body standards and limitations.

And you know, to a certain extent? I get that. I certainly do not expect strict realism from an artist like J. Scott Campbell or Sam Keith or Kyle Baker. And yeah, super-heroes are not “real”. But many artists draw with a sense of “realism”…but when it comes to their women? They through any sense of realism to the wind.

The women in comics-even wandering the sidewalks are models and porn stars. And women in comics seem to be their for male fantasy and amusement. If a woman reader can overlook it? Great, they can join in. But as they say, girls love super-heroes. And yet, girls are told to just turn the other cheek.

When a character is made so vacuous that she cannot remember significant people from her past? It is no small wonder it makes women uncomfortable. The character was always “comfortable with her sexuality.” She also very much believed in love, and saw a connection. But guys want to believe that women will come in, ask them to have sex without a thought and never compare them to prior partners. It is not slut shaming that drove the frustration over this. And if this was the only comic then, I doubt Hudson would have written her article. This is a pervasive problem. Women want to enjoy the fantasy to…and here we had yet another portrayal of a woman where she walks around on display for the viewer’s benefit-not her own.

Thankfully, there were many in the industry who chimed in to agree. My twitter feed lit up with artists and writers re-tweeting the grand article. As a person who just started reading comics again, I am frustrated how little has changed. And DC keeps stumbling into this pit. And the same artists making the same mistakes, giving the same fan service. You see, we got bad cheesecake for Catwoman. Harley Quinn is a Juggalo. Amanda Waller is slender (talk about fundamentally changing a unique character).

There is a reason, say Adam Hughes has a sizable female fan base. Women I have talked to often cite that Hughes avoids dead-eyes, giving a vibrant look to his women-so in spite of their being pin-up women, they smile, and can even be goofy. His pin-ups are fun. Hughes has had moments of stumbling, but overall, women don’t seem tend to feel quite so insulted by the art.

I am not hating on “sexy”. I like Adam Hughes and Kevin Maguire. I like Frank Cho. They are good artists. They draw sexy babes. I am not bothered by characters being sexually active. But give the women some dignity and personality. Make them more than male wish fulfillment. Let female heroes be the heroic inspiration the male heroes get to be. Both can be desirable…yet female heroes only get to be sexy. It is more important it seems that Starfire be a wet dream than a person…or a strong and great hero.

People are speaking out. Men, women and children. Maybe this time? The publishers will listen. Of course, when I stopped reading comics five years ago? They were making the same mistakes. Yesterday’s parting shot at Comics Alliance sums it all up well. I want this girl to have awesome heroes. And she is not getting them. Don’t destroy her hero to give guys a ridiculous fantasy. That’s just sad.